Glasgow City Council will have to use partly-qualified teachers to address staffing concerns created by ongoing budget cuts, The Herald can exclusively reveal.

The council is in the process of eliminating as many as 450 teaching posts over the next three years, with 172 already removed for the coming academic year. The cuts mean that as many as 45 primary schools face having only the headteacher out of class, with teachers and parents raising concerns about pupil safety as a result.

In a recent letter to headteachers, the council’s Director of Education, Douglas Hutchison, confirmed that “a number of business cases outlining particular concerns” have now been reviewed, but stated that “for most of these the solution was the allocation of probationers.” This has happened, he adds, because “there is no pot of money remaining at the centre.”

The prospect of some schools losing even more teachers after the summer holidays is also raised, and reference is made to current probationers in Glasgow schools, as well as those on fixed term contracts, with Hutchison expressing “regret” that there are “very limited options” to offer permanent jobs to these groups.

Probationers are those still undergoing teacher education as part of the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS), which guarantees one year of work on the completion of Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Probationers do not teach a full timetable, are entitled to significantly more support and mentoring than fully-qualified colleagues, and are not supposed to be used to fill vacancies. Most of the salary costs for probationers are covered by the Scottish Government rather than the council in which they are working.

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A spokesperson for the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) told The Herald that probationers’ introduction to the teaching profession “should be centred on the experience of the individual, provisionally-registered teacher, with a focus on their continued education and development, and with support from colleagues in their school and local authority.”

They added that while some expect “provisionally registered teachers to be 'classroom ready'”, this was never the intention of the TIS programme, which was actually designed under the assumption that probationers would operate in addition to core school staffing provision, not as part of it:

“Allocating probationers to fill vacancies does not align with the structure to becoming a teacher that was devised to include both ITE and induction,” they added, before highlighting that these new teachers have only achieved the Standard for Provisional – rather than Full – Registration at this early stage of their careers.

A spokesperson for the EIS Glasgow local association, which is currently balloting members over possible strike action in response to the cuts, said that the latest developments had reinforced the union's position on the impact of the council’s decisions:

“It is unfair to both the school and the probationer teachers to make the smoother running of the school reliant on their induction year. In the 45 primary schools where only headteachers are available to support staff and pupils, the school will have limited capacity to provide the probationer teacher with the support they deserve.

“EIS members want to see those new to the profession given the best start in their careers and not simply thrown in as additionality to plug a gap caused by cutting 172 posts. These are inexperienced teachers who need the support of their colleagues to develop their practice and should not be used to cover posts which have been axed.

“Further, Glasgow EIS condemns any prospect of more teachers losing jobs in the new session if school rolls drop and the new draconian staffing formula is applied yet again.

“We are clear, this formula is a cuts formula and a blunt instrument. If it was fit for purpose, the plan to have untrained teachers essentially as core staffing in some of our primary schools would not be necessary.”

Mike Corbett, NASUWT National Official Scotland, argued that probationers “deserve to have a secure and supportive environment in which to learn the craft of teaching.”

“Simply dropping them into schools to fill staffing gaps and replace more experienced teachers both exploits these new recruits and deprives pupils of the benefits of more experienced teachers.

“Glasgow City Council is attempting to teach pupils on the cheap without reckoning with the damaging impact this will have on children’s educational progress and development.

“Combined with the loss of at least 172 teaching posts, with the threat of more cuts to come, the picture for the education system in our largest city is deeply worrying.

“The Scottish Government must use the powers it has to intervene with local authorities to maintain teacher numbers and, in this case, safeguard education provision in Glasgow.”

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A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said:

“Probationers are not being used to plug any budget saving gaps in our schools.”

“They are professional, valued members of a school’s staff structure and it is disrespectful to say otherwise.

“As probationers work towards achieving the full standard for registration, they are mentored by an experienced member of staff, but they have their own class for 0.8fte or four days a week.   

“This has been the norm for many, many years and is the same across all local authorities and no concerns have been raised about this in previous years.

“It is no different in our schools this year.

“During our annual staffing exercise, headteachers propose a portion of their staffing to secure a probationer or probationers.

“It is for headteachers to consider how probationer staff are deployed in their schools, but historically there is flexibility to free up senior leaders to focus on other activities related to the school’s priorities.

“Staff allocation will always fluctuate on the number of pupils in a school.

“The education director will be sending out regular communications to keep headteachers updated on the education savings – and had a meeting with all headteachers days after the budget decisions.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“The Scottish Government is determined to close the poverty related attainment gap and ministers are clear that this will not be achieved by councils employing fewer teachers in our schools.

“To that end, we are offering local authorities £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers.

“Councils have statutory obligations in respect of education, and have a shared commitment with the Scottish Government to deliver the best outcomes for people and communities under the Verity House Agreement.”